Archives for July 2011

Moberly Police got a pretty good haul out of this one, and busted a couple of people in the process.

Yeah, 13 grams of meth, some pot, a loaded handgun, cash and some drug paraphernalia. They also busted 28 year old Christina Paterson, charging her with Possession of Controlled Substance with Intent to Distribute, Maintaining a Public Nuisance and Endangering the Welfare of a Child — 3 counts. Bond was set at $100,000. Twenty-one year old Tiffany Ochoa was also busted and charged with Keeping or Maintaining a Public Nuisance with bond set at $45,000. The three children in the home at the time of the search warrant were placed into protective custody and turned over to the Randolph County Juvenile Officer and the Division of Family Services. All this went down Friday morning at 545 Barrow St in Moberly.

It’s from August fifth through the seventh and the department of revenue says the Show Me State will not be showing taxpayers the 4.225 percent sales tax, and there won’t be tax charged by Adair County or the city of Kirksville. Clothing of less than 100 dollars will be tax free, as will school supplies of less than 50 dollars, personal computers and peripheral devices of less than 35 hundred dollars.

That’s what the Putnam County Commissioner’s budget committee is recommending for Putnam County Schools. After the committee hear from Dr. Kathleen Airhart, director of Putnam County Schools and decided that they’d keep up with the maintenance and that money is coming from property tax and sales tax collections. Airhart asked that the county give the schools about one and a quarter million dollars to balance the school budget, but the county said with everything else it has to fund, it can’t do any more than maintenance..

Its a meteor shower. The Dela Aquarid will be visible tonight and will be the beginning of a double meteor shower. At the finish of the Delta Aquarid, the Perseid meteor shower will start, showing of lots of shooting stars. Truman State University’s Dr. Matt Beaky is an Associate Professor of Physics. He said tonight will be one of the best nights to see the Delta Aquarid. As for the Perseid, it’ll be most visible on August 12. Beaky said the best time to see a meteor shower is after midnight, and the numbers of meteors will increase closer to dawn.

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — This summer Truman State University will partner with a program designed to set children as young as middle school on the path to obtaining a college education.

The University’s Truman Institute and the Office of Advancement are working with the Kauffman Scholars, Inc., to provide a three-day college experience for up to 45 middle school students this August. The students are part of the Kauffman Scholars program, which prepares urban students from an early age to succeed in and graduate from college. The program’s goal is to increase the number of college graduates from the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is expected to serve around 2,300 students over 19 years and is supported by a $70 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

“We are positively ecstatic about having the Kauffman Scholars on our campus,” said Gina Morin, vice president for enrollment management at Truman. “The nurturing of academic excellence provided to the Kauffman Scholars throughout their time in the program is very consistent with Truman’s mission. We are eager to help these young people learn to identify a college that is right for them and, of course, we hope they will find Truman an attractive environment at which they may someday continue their studies.”

During their stay on campus Aug. 3-5, the Kauffman Scholars will rotate through three workshops of rocketry, ballooning and writing. These workshops introduce interesting and important scientific, mathematical or computational skills and ideas.

Jason Miller, professor of mathematics and director of Truman’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Talent Expansion Programs Office, will coordinate the program at Truman, drawing upon the already well-established experiences of the University’s previous summer enrichment programs.

“Truman’s undergraduate science and mathematics programs are among the best in the nation, and we faculty are always looking for new ways to spread our enthusiasm for the opportunities available to those with training in STEM areas,” Miller said. “Working with the Kauffman Scholars program is an exciting opportunity for us.”

Currently, Kauffman Scholars range from seventh grade through college. They enter a “stair step” program of learning and mentoring as early as their middle school years. Each student has an academic coach and a life coach mentoring them as they receive rigorous instruction in math, science, language arts and life skills. Throughout their middle school and high school years, students are exposed to a range of special academies and workshops to further develop their skills, culminating in support at the college level.

The theft possibly happened on Saturday. Police said that a man came into the church and asked a woman who was in prayer to join him in Communion. Police said the man took the communion wafer, then smashed the rest and poured holy water on them. He then allegedly took donated items that were for those in need, and fled. Police got the surveillance video from inside the church on Monday. An anonymous caller to Moberly Police said they saw the suspect and police arrested 33 year old Luke Daniel Hertzler, charging him with burglary and institutional vandalism. His bond was set at 20 thousand dollars.

She was minding her own business, eating breakfast in her home when it happened.

What happened? St John Police said 80 year old Margaret Shofner was struck by an arrow that came through her window and stuck in her mouth. Police said a man nearby was doing some target practice when his arrow strayed. He could now face armed criminal action and assault charges. Shofner was not seriously hurt and pulled the non-razor edged arrow out of her mouth.

We will soon start seeing Highway Patrol troopers testing new cars that might replace the trusty Ford Crown Victorias they’ve used exclusively since 19-95. The Patrol has 150 to 200 of the last Crown Vics waiting to be put into service. But Ford isn’t making them anymore. Some replacements will soon be on the roads.

Patrol Lieutenant John Hotz says the light bars and sirens are being mounted; the computer terminal is being put in, the radar units, and the video cameras are being installed in 27 Dodge Chargers. But the Chargers won’t be the only possible replacements being tested. The Patrol is considering a foreign-made car, too-a Chevrolet Caprice made by GM’s Holden subsidiary in Australia.

Ford will offer a replacement for the Crown Vic, but the Interceptor might not be ready for testing before the patrol takes bids for next year’s cars.

The Interceptor, unlike the Charger or the Caprice, will be all-wheel drive, which Hotz thinks could be advantageous to troopers who have to drive on all kinds of roads and in all kinds of conditions.

Hotz hopes the first of the possible Crown Vic replacements, the Chargers, can be on the road ind a couple of weeks.

A crash last night in Linn county sent a Brookfield teen to the hospital. 17-year old Alexander Hargandine was riding a motorcycle on Linn County Route M north of Brookfield about 8:20 last night. He saw a deer in the road and was unable to avoid hitting it. The impact sent him off the right side of the road. He was taken by ambulance to Pershing Hospital and later airlifted to Columbia. His current condition is not available.

Authorities have filed charges against Brian and Dawn Lough, the non-custodial parents of three children originally reported to be abducted from their Adair County home. Each faces three class D felony counts of interference with custody, following an indictment filed last week. Their 8, 5 and 4 yer old chlredn were in the cusdoty of their grandparents. On July 21, the grandparents told police the children had been taken overnight. Police in Greeley, Colorado located the Loughs and the children, all in good health, at a trailer court. So far, neith Brian nor Dawn Lough is reported as being in custody locally.